Accompanied by senior ministers of his cabinet, Modi flagged off the superfast express train, Mahamana Express, which would ply between Varanasi-Lucknow-New Delhi.

All the coaches of the model train have been manufactured in a Bhopal coach factory, officials told IANS.

Modi congratulated the ministry of railways for the new train, and said he hoped that it would make travel safe and easy for the passengers.

He also said this train would soon be replicated elsewhere in the country.

Minister of State for Railway Maonj Sinha told the gathering at Dereka grounds that it was for the first time that central schemes were benefitting all districts of Uttar Pradesh rather than being restricted to Rae Bareli and Amethi represented in the Lok Sabha by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.

The new train would also be the first to travel on the newly electrified section between Moradabad-Ghaziabad.

The train would be formally operational from January 25, thrice a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It would leave Varanasi for Delhi at 6.35 p.m. and would reach Delhi at 8.25 a.m., the next day.